U.S. House
Kay Granger’s historic career on the House Appropriations Committee was honored in November during a tribute in Washington that included the unveiling of her portrait in the committee chambers. Granger was the first Republican woman to chair the committee.
Kay Granger retired from Congress on Jan. 3 as one of Texas’ most impactful statesmen, her reputation and legacy fully intact despite attempts by political adversaries — more like political hitmen — to tarnish it in her final days.
Granger was an equal among the towering figures of the Texas delegation through the years, including Garner, Rayburn, Patman, Mahon, Gonzalez, and, of course, Jim Wright of Texas' District 12.
“Her impact on her district and her region and the state is equal to any other Congress person in the last 20 to 30 years,” says former U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, a longtime Republican colleague of Granger’s. “She was all Fort Worth, all 12th District, all the time.”
Granger is the Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year. Fort Worth Inc. is a sister publication of Fort Worth Magazine. She is being honored for her years as a public servant at City Hall and in the House of Representatives. Granger will be in attendance at an event in May to honor her.
“Her legacy is as someone who was a tireless promoter of Fort Worth, someone who represented Fort Worth with dignity in the House of Representatives,” says Jim Riddlesperger, a professor of political science at TCU. “She obviously was a partisan Republican, but she had a reputation who, behind the scenes, was always trying to figure out a way forward, a way that she could work with people across the aisle to find solutions to problems. She's kind of a throwback to a different generation of members of Congress. She was always a builder.”
That stance as a right-leaning moderate has caused Granger political pain over the years from the far right.
A story in December in the Dallas Express tried to make an issue of Granger’s absence in Washington since July. It caught on like a wildfire, giving its author and the “news” platform their 15 minutes.
That the story was taken seriously is far more concerning than the issues it tried to raise, most notably that Granger’s absence left her constituents in District 12 without representation for five months, particularly during the debate on the Continuing Resolution at the end of the year.
Granger has acknowledged that health issues made travel to Washington challenging. Granger announced in October 2023 that she would not seek another term. She stepped down from her chairmanship in March.
The Dallas Express is a partisan activist-advocate publication that disguises itself as a legitimate news resource. It is about as legitimate as, say, the Courier Newsroom, a platform run by leftists who might live on Pluto. The story on Granger was riddled with holes, wild speculation, and falsehoods — including the implication that she is in memory care or that she was “missing.” It also demonstrated little understanding of congressional mechanisms or the Constitution — such as the fact that House replacements cannot simply be “appointed.”
“Here's what her critics are missing, including, of course, the chair of the Republican Party here in Tarrant County: There was literally nothing she could have done early in 2024 that would have hastened a replacement for her,” Riddlesperger says. “The Constitution does not allow interim appointments in the House of Representatives. The only way you can get into the House of Representatives is to be elected. And that was quite intentional by the founders.”
These publications are a throwback of sorts to the 19th century’s partisan newspapers, which tended to sensationalize, or, as one historian noted, “color” or even manufacture facts. It was all about converting the reader, not necessarily informing.
In reality, if a member were to step down so late in the calendar, one insider explained, “the clerk of the House essentially administers the district and keeps the staff in place.” In other words, even if Granger had stepped down, nothing would have turned out differently than it did.
Since Granger returned to Fort Worth at the end of July, the House was in session only 33 days. Members took all of August off, as well as October to go back home to campaign for November’s elections. The House was adjourned for 15 weeks during that time.
Granger missed only one major vote: the Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded and running until March. It’s designed that way. No one in Congress wants to have to deal with a hot political potato with an election looming.
And her vote would have had no impact on the outcome. Other than perhaps votes on the names of U.S. Post Offices, there was literally nothing going on.
Barton recalls leaving Congress for about three weeks to be with his dying brother in Keller. Jon Barton, a Tarrant County district judge, died in 2000. Joe Barton says he missed dozens of votes in that time, but “I was going to take care of my brother and later his widow and his two kids. And I don’t regret it one bit.”
However, because he wasn’t there didn’t mean he was fully absent. He certainly wasn’t “missing.”
Of the Granger situation, Barton, who retired from Congress in 2018 after a 34-year career there, says: “That doesn't mean that she and/or her staff weren't involved, especially on a budget vote. I'll guarantee you that she and/or her staff were helping set the positions and maybe even rounding up votes for or against it. You don't have to be on the floor to be counted, to be effective, to be heard.”
One source also said that Granger’s office had an understanding with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson that if he needed a vote, she was on the ready.
Moreover, Granger’s district offices remained opened, working on constituent casework.
It’s difficult to see why the Express published such a shoddily documented story, aside from an apparent attempt to harm and embarrass Granger.
That is politics, not to mention a gross violation of Reagan’s 11th Commandment, which, of course, today is mere faded sidewalk chalk.
It is worth noting something else that wasn’t in the story: The CEO of the Express, Chris Putnam, is a political rival of Granger’s who ran against her in the 2020 GOP primary. She beat him decisively.
As Sam Rayburn, longtime Speaker of the House, once counseled: Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one.
